Published: Sunday, June 8, 2014 at 6:51 p.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, June 8, 2014 at 6:51 p.m.

Back in the late 1980s, three aviators were working on a 1940s-era Stearman biplane when one of the trio, Ken Stubbs, had an idea: what if they created a museum for single-prop aircraft like the one they were restoring?

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After setting up a corporation and securing tax-exempt status, the three men – Stubbs, Dennis Dunlap and Bill Schreier – started a membership drive and soon gained 100 members. They rented Hanger 61 at the Hendersonville Airport to store a few planes for public viewing, and the WNC Air Museum was born.

“That hanger's got a dirt floor in it, and I was remodeling First Citizens Bank at the time, so I tore out all the carpet and we carpeted the dirt floor,” recalled Dunlap, a local contractor and pilot. “We cleaned and blew the place out and then we'd open the thing up on Saturdays and Sundays for people to come and look through.”

That summer, the museum held its first Air Fair and Fly-In at the grass airstrip. For a small fee, any visitor could taxi off and tour the skies over Henderson County in a vintage aircraft donated by members. The money went toward a down payment on the museum's first hanger, located on adjacent Johnson's Airfield.

“And it kind of just grew from there,” Dunlap said.

Today, the museum has roughly 350 members, two hangers and a unique collection of 18 historic aircraft, mostly from the decades surrounding World War II. This weekend marked the 25th anniversary of the museum's fair, which now serves as its chief fundraiser and signature community event.

On Sunday, Stubbs and Dunlap perched in plastic chairs in a hanger overlooking the grass airstrip where their brainchild first took flight. Another Stearman, one of six restored by Dunlap, took off and landed every 15 minutes, its open cockpit filled by pilot Greg Collins and a paying passenger.

Grinning from ear to ear, Bob Grazio of Greer, S.C. stepped out on the biplane's lower wing and down a stepladder Sunday, while his wife, Kathy, took photographs. Grazio was one of more than 100 fair visitors who took the opportunity to sightsee from the PT-17 this weekend.

“I like flying in old airplanes,” Grazio said. In addition to rides in the Stearman and another Waco biplane in Florida 12 years ago, the retired mechanical engineer has been up in a Ford Tri-Motor nicknamed “The Tin Goose” and a Boeing B-17 bomber known as “The Flying Fortress.”

Grazio traces his love of vintage aircraft to his first commercial plane ride when he was 5, from his home state of Massachusetts to California.

“That was 1953, back in the days when planes had propellers,” he said. “That captured my fancy, so I've always had an interest in it.”

Many who sign up to fly in the Stearman want to relive their earlier experiences in the planes, said Museum President Joseph W. Lilley. The fabric-bodied planes were the training aircraft for World War II pilots, he said, and became post-war crop dusters because “you could buy them for pennies on the dollar.”

“Every year, we get some type of story, somebody that was a pilot that learned to fly in one way back when,” Lilley said. “One year, we actually had a woman who was part of the women's air corps, one of the WASPS. She was in her 90s, on oxygen and we had to have the paramedics clear her (for flying). We had to practically pick her up, but the moment her foot touched the wing, it was like she was up there.”

Lilley said the museum has hopes of expanding its collection of vintage aircraft and hanger space in the future and has increased its presence online to solicit outside donations for its cause.

“We're constantly looking to get more aircraft that we can save,” he said. “They're disappearing at an alarming rate.”

The museum is also looking to recruit a new generation of airplane buffs to its ranks. Its members volunteer with the Experimental Aircraft Association, offering free airplane rides to kids 8-17 years old “to get them interested in aviation,” he said.

Museum leaders are working on their own program called “Futures in Flight,” which will educate a younger generation about how planes work and aviation careers.

Asked about the future of the museum, Stubbs leaned back in his chair and nodded toward Cole McKibbin, a Hendersonville High senior who's headed to Clemson University next fall to major in mechanical engineering.

“We've got people like this kid sitting here,” he said. “He's soloed in a tail-dragger and a regular airplane on his 16th birthday. We won't let him get away. We have a lot of members that are pilots that live in other places. They may come up here in the summer and spend a few weeks.”

A quarter-century after he co-founded the museum, Stubbs is still amazed by the war stories he hears while sitting around the hangers and listening to visitors.

“Some of them are way out in left field, but it had to have happened because you couldn't make this stuff up,” he said. “They get their books out and they say, 'Yeah, I was there at the same time,' or when they first started flying jets, 'Yeah, yeah, I was the first instructor.' That's just a lot of fun to sit and watch.”

For more information about the museum, visit www.westernnorthcarolinaairmuseum.com.

<p>Back in the late 1980s, three aviators were working on a 1940s-era Stearman biplane when one of the trio, Ken Stubbs, had an idea: what if they created a museum for single-prop aircraft like the one they were restoring?</p><p>After setting up a corporation and securing tax-exempt status, the three men – Stubbs, Dennis Dunlap and Bill Schreier – started a membership drive and soon gained 100 members. They rented Hanger 61 at the Hendersonville Airport to store a few planes for public viewing, and the WNC Air Museum was born.</p><p>“That hanger's got a dirt floor in it, and I was remodeling First Citizens Bank at the time, so I tore out all the carpet and we carpeted the dirt floor,” recalled Dunlap, a local contractor and pilot. “We cleaned and blew the place out and then we'd open the thing up on Saturdays and Sundays for people to come and look through.”</p><p>That summer, the museum held its first Air Fair and Fly-In at the grass airstrip. For a small fee, any visitor could taxi off and tour the skies over Henderson County in a vintage aircraft donated by members. The money went toward a down payment on the museum's first hanger, located on adjacent Johnson's Airfield.</p><p>“And it kind of just grew from there,” Dunlap said.</p><p>Today, the museum has roughly 350 members, two hangers and a unique collection of 18 historic aircraft, mostly from the decades surrounding World War II. This weekend marked the 25th anniversary of the museum's fair, which now serves as its chief fundraiser and signature community event.</p><p>On Sunday, Stubbs and Dunlap perched in plastic chairs in a hanger overlooking the grass airstrip where their brainchild first took flight. Another Stearman, one of six restored by Dunlap, took off and landed every 15 minutes, its open cockpit filled by pilot Greg Collins and a paying passenger. </p><p>Grinning from ear to ear, Bob Grazio of Greer, S.C. stepped out on the biplane's lower wing and down a stepladder Sunday, while his wife, Kathy, took photographs. Grazio was one of more than 100 fair visitors who took the opportunity to sightsee from the PT-17 this weekend. </p><p>“I like flying in old airplanes,” Grazio said. In addition to rides in the Stearman and another Waco biplane in Florida 12 years ago, the retired mechanical engineer has been up in a Ford Tri-Motor nicknamed “The Tin Goose” and a Boeing B-17 bomber known as “The Flying Fortress.”</p><p>Grazio traces his love of vintage aircraft to his first commercial plane ride when he was 5, from his home state of Massachusetts to California. </p><p>“That was 1953, back in the days when planes had propellers,” he said. “That captured my fancy, so I've always had an interest in it.”</p><p>Many who sign up to fly in the Stearman want to relive their earlier experiences in the planes, said Museum President Joseph W. Lilley. The fabric-bodied planes were the training aircraft for World War II pilots, he said, and became post-war crop dusters because “you could buy them for pennies on the dollar.”</p><p>“Every year, we get some type of story, somebody that was a pilot that learned to fly in one way back when,” Lilley said. “One year, we actually had a woman who was part of the women's air corps, one of the WASPS. She was in her 90s, on oxygen and we had to have the paramedics clear her (for flying). We had to practically pick her up, but the moment her foot touched the wing, it was like she was up there.”</p><p>Lilley said the museum has hopes of expanding its collection of vintage aircraft and hanger space in the future and has increased its presence online to solicit outside donations for its cause. </p><p>“We're constantly looking to get more aircraft that we can save,” he said. “They're disappearing at an alarming rate.”</p><p>The museum is also looking to recruit a new generation of airplane buffs to its ranks. Its members volunteer with the Experimental Aircraft Association, offering free airplane rides to kids 8-17 years old “to get them interested in aviation,” he said. </p><p>Museum leaders are working on their own program called “Futures in Flight,” which will educate a younger generation about how planes work and aviation careers.</p><p>Asked about the future of the museum, Stubbs leaned back in his chair and nodded toward Cole McKibbin, a Hendersonville High senior who's headed to Clemson University next fall to major in mechanical engineering.</p><p>“We've got people like this kid sitting here,” he said. “He's soloed in a tail-dragger and a regular airplane on his 16th birthday. We won't let him get away. We have a lot of members that are pilots that live in other places. They may come up here in the summer and spend a few weeks.”</p><p>A quarter-century after he co-founded the museum, Stubbs is still amazed by the war stories he hears while sitting around the hangers and listening to visitors.</p><p>“Some of them are way out in left field, but it had to have happened because you couldn't make this stuff up,” he said. “They get their books out and they say, 'Yeah, I was there at the same time,' or when they first started flying jets, 'Yeah, yeah, I was the first instructor.' That's just a lot of fun to sit and watch.”</p><p>For more information about the museum, visit www.westernnorthcarolinaairmuseum.com.</p><p>___</p><p>Reach Axtell at than.axtell@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7860.</p>